By Garry Sloan
Newcastle Town Swifts secured a KitRoom Shield semi-final spot with a comfortable 3–0 win over Ballynahinch Olympic Town at Kilmore on Saturday, despite some inspired goalkeeping from home keeper Joshua Quinn.
From the first whistle, Newcastle came out on the front foot, with the pace of Young and McAteer causing plenty of problems for the Olympic defence, consisting of Morrison, Burns, O’Neill, and Reid. Strikers Devlin and Connor added further pressure, keeping the home backline under constant threat.
Despite sustained pressure, Newcastle struggled to find an early breakthrough — thanks in large part to a string of fine saves from Olympic’s standout performer, goalkeeper Joshua Quinn. He denied Connor after ten minutes and followed that up with stops to frustrate Cunningham, McLoughlin, and McAteer. Jennings and Cunningham controlled the midfield, providing a steady stream of chances for the forwards.
The breakthrough finally came after 40 minutes when Daniel Cunningham found the net, giving Newcastle a deserved lead. That goal rattled the home defence, and just before half-time, Fitzpatrick and McAteer combined to create space for Jennings, who played in Marty Devlin. Devlin linked up smartly with Rory Connor before slipping the ball to Curtis McAteer, who slotted home to make it 2–0.
The second half continued in similar fashion, with Newcastle dominating possession. Jennings and Cunningham maintained control in midfield, while Devlin continued to stretch the defence on the flanks. The third goal came in the 65th minute when McAteer linked up with Fitzpatrick and Devlin, driving a low cross into the six-yard box that was turned into his own net by defender Charlie Ward.
This was a much-improved performance from Newcastle compared to the previous week, with several strong individual displays. However, Man of the Match honours went unquestionably to Olympic keeper Joshua Quinn, whose heroics kept the scoreline respectable.
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